Fake Book Cover

This book does not really exist, and is unlikely to do so, so let’s get that out of the way.

Having realized that I will probably be randomly self-publishing things for many years to come, I finally decided that I need to address one of the glaring holes in my artistic skillset–graphic design.

I’m not great at it. But I’m gonna be doing my own book covers as T. Kingfisher for quite awhile. So I spent awhile on Pinterest pinning covers I like or found interesting or eye-catching, and then it occurred to me that there is pretty much no artistic skill you learn simply by looking at examples of it, so I started fooling with fake book mock-ups. My buddy Daniel Solis, whenever anybody drops a particular complex or weird line into the conversation, will simply say “…a memoir,” and so that turned into fake memoir covers and so forth.

I dunno, it sort of works large but the contrast between the green and the brown isn’t strong enough at the small size, so if it was kindle-thumbnail-size, it’d just look too dark.

If anyone has any suggestions for really good entry-level design books, I’d love to hear ’em.

Wow, that’s an ugly link – sorry about that! It’s _The Non-Designer’s Design Book_ by Robin P Williams. The library may well have a copy. It was basic enough for me to learn a lot, and all of my art education happened in the 20th century.

I’m rather fond of ‘Graphic Design: The New Basics’ by Lupton and Kadavy’s ‘Design for Hackers: Reverse Engineering Beauty’. You should be able to find both at your local library or bookstore to peruse and see if they are what you are looking for.